Skenes’ 1-of-1 rookie card fetches record $1.11M
-
Dan Hajducky
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes‘ 2024 Topps Chrome Update MLB debut patch autograph card sold for a stunning $1.11 million, including buyer’s premium, on Thursday.
It’s a record paid for a Skenes card — whose 2025 base salary is $875,000 — and the most expensive modern, non-Mike Trout baseball card. A 1-of-1 Trout rookie card sold for $3.9 million in August 2020, then the most expensive sports card of all time.
The buyer’s identity is currently unknown. The card was sold via Fanatics Collect.
The 1-of-1 numbered card with an on-card autograph includes a patch Skenes wore on his Pirates uniform during his major league debut, a conceit that MLB exclusive trading card licensee Topps developed and introduced for the 2023 season.
Pre-Skenes, the most paid for one was $150,000 in a private sale for Anthony Volpe‘s last summer. Jackson Holiday‘s MLB debut patch autograph card sold for $198,000, including buyer’s premium, in Thursday’s auction.
The Skenes factor — the National League’s All-Star Game starting pitcher, a Cy Young finalist and Rookie of the Year in 2024 — spawned a chase rarely seen for a modern sports card, baseball or otherwise. Last Christmas, an 11-year-old Dodgers fan from Los Angeles (the family has chosen to remain anonymous) pulled the Skenes redemption card from his lone present.
The Pirates offered a bounty, including 30 years of season tickets, a meet-and-greet with Skenes, two signed jerseys and a number of private PNC Park and spring training tours and experiences in exchange for the card. Skenes’ girlfriend and LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne offered to host whoever pulled the card for a Pirates game in her suite; Seth Meyers, host of “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” also offered a VIP experience just to see the card.
But the family turned it down. They started talking with auction houses in early January and chose Fanatics Collect. Kevin Lenane, Fanatics’ Marketplace vice president, flew to Texas to personally collect the Skenes card.
“This was complicated by the fact that the family was evacuated from where they were in Los Angeles multiple times,” Lenane said. “I got the card from Topps in Texas and brought it to the family out there then the following day graded it for them [with card grader PSA] and brought it back to New York.”
On the flight to California, the pilot found out about Lenane’s heavily insured cargo, tucked away in a protective case.
“I discreetly shared it with him, [and] he wanted a picture,” said Lenane, the former president of PSA, an authentication and grading service. “I honestly felt like Ed McMahon, bringing this check to an excited, modest Southern California family. A lot of times with larger items, you’ll spent a bunch of money and make a bunch of money; in this case, the family bought one box of cards for a few hundred bucks, and this is the outcome. It was a pleasure to be able to bring it to them.”
The card also caused a pileup at Fanatics’ Super Bowl LIX party in February to look at the card, which was encased on a wall. Fanatics Collect CEO Nick Bell said the viewing scene “felt a little like the Mona Lisa” because of the line of people who wanted to take a peek at the rare collectible.
The 11-year-old who pulled the card is a fan of Shohei Ohtani but is still looking forward to talking with Skenes, a meeting Fanatics plans to facilitate down the road, Lenane said.
Bell said he can’t recall a time since he joined the company that there has been such fervor over a card.
“I’ve had more calls and questions about the Skenes card than any other card we’ve sold on Fanatics,” he said. “And that was true within five, 10 minutes of [the card going to auction] being announced. This is the most notable card ever in terms of our impression tracking on social media.”
Fanatics Collectibles is based in Los Angeles, and Bell said all Fanatics Collect proceeds will go toward L.A. fire relief. Fanatics has also supported relief efforts with LA Strong merchandise.
The family told Fanatics the sale will send their 11-year-old and his brother to college.
“Whatever they have in mind for their college, they’re going to split down the middle as a savings,” Lenane said. “There’s some small amount set aside for cards, but it’s tiny compared to the college bill. The vast majority is going into college-type savings plans.”
-
Jesse Rogers
Free agent pitcher Julio Urias, who hasn’t played in the big leagues since 2023, was suspended through this year’s All-Star break for violating Major League Baseball’s joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy, commissioner Rob Manfred announced in a Friday news release.
It’s Urias’ second suspension for violating the policy. He was suspended for 20 games in 2019 after being arrested on suspicion of domestic battery.
He’ll be reinstated on July 17, 2025, and then free to sign with any team.
Urias, 28, spent eight seasons with the Dodgers before being placed on administrative leave after his latest arrest in September 2023. He remained there until becoming a free agent at the end of that season. He did not sign with a team last year while under investigation.
Urias’ latest arrest occurred outside a soccer match in Los Angeles after the pitcher got into an altercation with his wife. In 2024, he plead no contest to the battery charges stemming from that arrest and entered a treatment program.
Since Urias isn’t employed by a team the league could not assign him a number of games for the suspension, instead choosing a date that corresponds with the end of the All-Star break.
Urias was signed out of Mexico as a 16-year-old, making his debut for the Dodgers just three years later. He was an important contributor on L.A’s playoff teams during that era, recording the final out of the 2020 World Series, winning 20 games in 2021 and finishing third in National League Cy Young Award voting in 2022.
Urias was widely projected to sign a $200 million-plus contract before being arrested.
PEORIA, Ariz. — San Diego Padres right-hander Yu Darvish will start the season on the injured list because of inflammation in his right elbow, manager Mike Shildt said Friday.
Shildt said there is no timetable for Darvish’s return but the team is confident he will be back in the rotation following rest and a ramp-up period.
Darvish made a pair of spring training starts but was shut down after the second, a four-inning, 54-pitch outing against Kansas City on March 13. The Padres decided to have him back off his throwing program after he played catch a couple times.
Kyle Hart, Stephen Kolek and Randy Vasquez are candidates to fill Darvish’s spot in the rotation behind Michael King, Dylan Cease and Nick Pivetta.
Darvish is 110-88 with a 3.58 ERA in 12 major league seasons after pitching for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan’s Pacific League from 2005-11. The 38-year-old had Tommy John surgery on March 17, 2015, and returned to a major league mound on May 28, 2016.
He had back, neck and elbow problems last season and was on the restricted list for personal reasons from early July to late August. He won three of four starts in September and was 1-1 with a 1.98 ERA in two starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series
Darvish came to the major leagues in 2012 after agreeing to a $56 million, six-year contract with the Texas Rangers. He was traded to the Dodgers in July 2017, became a free agent after the World Series and signed a $126 million, six-year deal with the Chicago Cubs. Darvish was dealt to San Diego after the 2020 season and in February 2023 agreed to a contract with the Padres that added an additional $90 million in guaranteed money for a total of $108 million over six year.
His 2023 season ended in late August because of a bone spur in his right elbow.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports12 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway